Thank you all for coming.
Scott, welcome to the family.
We are happy to have you.
You are patient
and caring toward Sarah.
You are so respectful of Jane.

Sarah, this is a happy day.

I am glad
we could share it with you
and Scott.

Now, for some advice:
34 years of marriage
has taught me something.

First- Love each other every day
like you do today

Second - learn to agree when you can
And third -
Sarah is always right.

Congratulations!
We love you both.

HOW CAN I NOT THINK OF MY OWN WEDDING AND REFLECT ON THE LAST 33 PLUS YEARS OF MARRIAGE.

I SPEAK FROM MY HEART AND EXPERIENCE TO IMPART NUGGETS OF WISDOM TO NOT JUST HELP YOU GO THROUGH LIFE TOGETHER BUT ALSO ENRICH YOUR RELATIONSHIP, CREATE A STRONG BOND THAT WILL WEATHER ANY STORM AND BECOME A GUIDING EXAMPLE FOR PEOPLE AROUND YOU.

SO, HERE IS WHAT I WANT TO SHARE:

1. GROW TOGETHER, DISCOVER ADVENTURES, HOBBIES, AND JOY, MINIMIZE THE TIME APART, BUT ALSO DEVELOP AS INDIVIDUALS SO YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING NEW TO SHARE.
2. LEARN FROM EACH OTHER. DISCOVER THE BEST CHARECTERISTICS OF THE OTHER PERSON AND EMULATE THEM. YOU WILL IN TURN BE A BETTER VERSION OF YOURSELF.
3. RESPECT EACH OTHER. LEARN WHAT YOUR PARTNER NEEDS AND TRY TO GIVE THIS TO EACH OTHER. LEARN YOUR OWN SELF AND SHARE SO THAT BOTH CAN LEARN ABOUT EACH OTHER AND CREATE AN EVEN STRONGER BOND
4. GIVE IN. BUT NOT ALL THE TIME.
5. LOVE ONE ANOTHER, ALL THE TIME
6. FORGIVE, EVERYTHING
7. FORGET, SOMETHINGS
8. GREET EACH DAY WITH A KISS
9. PART EVERY NIGHT WITH A KISS

LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE. SOMETIMES IT’S FUN BUT SOMETIMES ITS HARD. BUT, AS LONG AS YOU ARE TOGETHER, IT WILL BE WORTH EXPERIENCING. SO, ENJOY EVERY MOMENT AS THIS WEDDING IS NOT AN END TO A CHAPTER BUT A BEGINNING OF A NOVEL. GO AND WRITE YOUR OWN LOVE STORY.

Before I start I want to give a quick shout out to everyone for making it here to celebrate Scott and Sarah on their special day. I know everyone has a lot going on in their lives and some of you have traveled long distances to be here so on behalf of my family, we really appreciate it.

We have people who have traveled from Florida, the Carolinas, New York, Maryland, Texas to name a few. We even have some who’ve come from Canada so really thank you guys….. It's truly amazing how far some people will go for a free meal these days.

In all seriousness, I am really honored to be the best man for this beautiful couple. First of all Sarah, you look absolutely stunning. Scott, I have to say, you clean up pretty nice yourself.

Scott and Sarah’s story is a case of Love…. Pure and simple… Sarah being pure and Scott being well…simple. Who said marriage had to be a partnership of equals??

So let me start off by telling you a little about my relationship with Scott. We actually met in the mid 90’s, about 29 years ago. I don't remember much from that day, as I had a lot going on at the time, but I can say without a doubt, Scott and I have been like brothers ever since.

For those of you who don't know, there were 4 of us growing up. Kristen, my sister who is the oldest of the lot. Scott is the oldest brother, I, DAVID, am the middle of the 3 brothers and Dan is the youngest.

Since our Dad was in the Army, we moved around every couple of years growing up. This sometimes was tough, but it kept us close and we were always running around the neighborhood, playing sports together and making up games to pass the time.

While those are great memories to look back on, there are also some darker ones that accompanied them. When I look into the crowd today, I see a lot of happy faces. But more importantly, I see a lot of ignorant faces. A lot of ignorance, to some of the atrocities, that have taken place in the Brown household over the years, all thanks to Scott.

Scott, there are many of these memories that come to mind, like the time you told me to “quick, hurry come outside” and proceeded to shoot me in the face with your airsoft rifle, leaving a large red welt, a day before my school pictures. Or the time you peed on our sister Kristen, for sitting too close to your beanbag. OR that time I was in 5th grade, when you encouraged your 6 foot, 200 pound, Man Child of a friend Jimmy Campbell to give me a wedgie and Jimmy hung me on a fence post by my underwear.

Scott, while those are hard memories to think back on, they definitely made me tougher and I truly do have a lot to thank you for. Thank you for rocking a bowl cut with me for the majority of our childhoods and for giving me your ketchup stained Hand Me Downs. Thank you for teaching me to be a visual learner, as I received zero hands-on experience, watching you play video games, seeing as you would never let me have a turn. Thank you for teaching me how to make a raised garden bed, as you somehow coerced me into doing your entire capstone project for you your senior year. I can also thank you for making sure that all of my new teachers already knew me by name before I even met them, as on the first day of school when taking attendance they would sigh and say “great, another Brown brother”. But most importantly, thank you for asking me to be your best man, it's truly an honor, even if you did ask me via text 3 weeks ago.

Now onto a more positive note. Sarah, I am really happy that you came into Scott’s life. I have really enjoyed getting to know you and you seem like a wonderful person who deserves the perfect guy. But life isn't always fair and sometimes you don't always get what you deserve. Scott’s yours now, finders keepers and no give backs.

Sarah, I wanted to leave you with two pieces of advice about Scott.
First, as you know, Scott loves to fish any and every chance he gets. My advice for you, is that when Scott gets home from fishing, maybeee you just don’t ask him if he caught anything. Over all of the years I have gone fishing with Scott growing up, I have actually never seen him catch one.
My final piece of advice is that if you ever see Scott going through your closet and eeeven trying on some of your clothes, don't be alarmed. Not only did Scott quickly cast himself as “Helga, the voluptuous female bully” in the video my friends and I made for my English class in 9th grade, but Scott oddly enough alsooo dressed up as a girl for Halloween for 4 years in a row when we were younger. If you think he is going through another one of these phases, please just let me know and I will have my grandpa give him the talk again.

All jokes aside, Scott, despite our differences growing up, I have always looked up to you and I am proud of how far you've come. I have no doubt that you will be a great husband and an even better father some day. You’ve taught me to be adventurous, confident and to make the best of every situation in life. I am really happy that you found Sarah to spend the rest of your life with. You deserve it. I love you Bro.

Alright that's enough mushy stuff… Now let's talk about Sarah. Sarah, I’ll be honest I had trouble thinking of anything to poke fun of you about today. I would be lying if I said you weren't impressive. From hearing your stories about backpacking alone abroad, to the fact that you’re graduating from Med School in June, I am glad that you're bringing some outgoing and gifted traits to the Brown family as I am sure you have noticed by now, we sometimes lack in those departments.

Sarah, as my dad likes to say, Scott really married UP by choosing you to be his wife. You're smart, kind, funny, hardworking, and you seem like a great match for Scott. I look forward to seeing where life takes the two of you and I am glad to have you around as a new sister to the family.

With that, I would like to ask everyone who is able, to stand and join me in a toast. ”May the bride and groom have a long, happy and healthy life together” - Congrats guys!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the brides big sister, Leanne. I’m a mom of two, wife to Cole for 7 years this August, and I’m a 6th Grade English teacher.

I share a lot with my students about my family, so they’ve been hearing all about my little sisters milestone events this year. Match Day, Bridal Shower, Bachelorette, well maybe not all of the details… and so they know how much I’ve been looking forward to this tremendous moment in her life, as Sarah enters the world as Mrs Doctor Becker Brown.

Here are some of my 6th graders words of advice to the bride and groom-

“Finding love is a difficult task, now that you’ve found it, cherish it!” -Zeynep
“Be nice and true to each other; marriage is hard work” -Quinn
“It’s not every day that two people decide to get married even though they know how annoying the other one is”- Rosie

Sarah and I were very different growing up. She was the Velma to my Daphne. She excelled in academics because of her natural intelligence and incredible perseverance. Even in preparation for the wedding, Sarah finished her to-do list with days to spare and started completing tasks from mine.

Fun Fact! Soon after returning from the honeymoon, Sarah will get her MD graduating from UMass Chan Medical School. This feat has been a dream of Sarah’s for a very long time. When this woman sets out to do something, she gets it done! She’s not bossy, she’s the boss *wink*

There could never be enough time for me to devote to capturing the love, admiration, and respect that I hold for you, Sarah. You are the smart one, the kind one, the funny one, the pretty one, the ambitious one. You are everything. And Scott is so lucky to be your partner.

The first time I learned about Scott was when I was in labor with my son, Dave almost 5 years ago. Sarah can be a pretty private person and so it was a gift for her to distract me with details of her personal life. I learned that Scott was cute, liked fishing, and made Sarah laugh.

Scott was the first partner that Sarah introduced us to so we knew things were serious.

In 2020 when the world shut down, Scott moved into my parents house in Holden. I should mention, they were also hosting my family- Cole, Dave who was 6 months), our cat and our 165lb Newfoundland Dog. While everyone was lonely during the isolation of social distancing, the Becker household was bumpin’

In that experience we learned what a gift Scott was for Sarah. He kept her busy with fun yet moderately annoying activities like hiding googly eye stickers on photographs and other objects around my parents’ house. He also had her listening to the weekly playlists he’d create. There were 52 in all, one each week the first year they dated and he never repeated a song.

From April-May while being his housemate, I learned that Scott understands Sarah deeply, gives her space to pursue her passions, and fills her life with laughter and joy.

In July of 2022 when dad suffered his major stroke traveling abroad, Sarah and I immediately hopped into action to figure out how we could be in Denmark to help Mom as dad was in a coma. We both had the incredible support of our partners as we planned for the unknown. Upon arriving to dads bedside, Sarah said, “Dad, you have to wake up. Scott wants to ask for your blessing to propose” and within minutes dad woke up.

Scott has been so supportive and kind to Sarah and our family as we adjust to the new normal. Most importantly he has been a partner to Sarah, always knowing how to calm her down or lift her spirits.

Now as the big sister I want to offer my own marriage advice, and it is kind of inspired by a conversation I had with my students. After gathering ideas for the speech, we went back to our coursework for the day I read them this line from our book, “don’t worry, from here on out, it only gets worse” and then we had a laugh about what if I said that at the wedding. “From here on out it only gets worse”

And then I stopped and I said to the class, you know I think what I’ll say in stead is that from my experience, if you put in the work, from here on out, it only gets better.

I have found that building a life together, facing challenges, and simply the gift of time and experience have made both Cole and I better spouses. I look at our parents and the sacrifices they make for each other and how incredibly they exemplify the notion that a marriage is in sickness and in health in good times and in bad.

I know that you have a beautiful life ahead of you both.

To Sarah, I hope you continue to adore your sweet pea.

To Scott, I hope you continue to love your pineapple head most ardently.

Before I end with a toast for the bride and groom I’ll let you know that we’ve posted text of all the speeches given tonight to the wedding website if you’d like to read them.

Now please join me in raising your glass. To Sarah and Scott, may you live happily ever after. Cheers!